Shavethewhales

It's not just the angle - you can see how a support juts out at a 90 degree angle on the side. As far as I'm concerned I don't care how many launches, vertical drops, or rides from a certain manufacturer that a park has - why set limits? Now to see the first inversion pop up out of the valley...

From a 2014 article 5) Yes, there have been plenty of offers to buy Lakeside/develop the property... and no, owner Rhoda Krasner is not interested Owner Rhoda Krasner is notoriously uninterested in selling the property or partnering with an investor to put money into "fixing it up." The beauty of Lakeside may be in the eye of the beholder, but anyone who visits the park and gets its old-school charm knows the park is fine just the way it is. Krasner has been known to say that part of the reason she hasn't struck a deal is because she wishes to stick by her father Ben's original intent of keeping the park affordable to all Oh yeah, I think I remember us talking about this before. I respect the intention, but man that's a recipe for inevitable disaster. A lot of the small classic parks that have gone out of business suffered from poor public perception because they let little things like painting slip. Rough appearance + old rides + management that refuses to update operations to reflect the present day = eventual closure. An accident on a ride, however minor, would ruin them with the park looking so ragged.

I haven't heard about a 2001 tunnel renovation. I thought it had a re-purposed Jim Owens tunnel until 2005-ish when they replaced it with the current boring empty concrete tunnel due to structural issues. It's a shame they didn't use more of the old Jim Owen's flume. I think it's kind of funny how much of it is still just out there in the woods with in-tact theming and all. Without the old tunnel, it's a much more "blah" ride than any ride at SDC should be. I may be misremembering then. I thought the new blah tunnel was built at the same time as Wildfire. The old Jim Owens tunnel was awesome. That ride was so much better before Wildfire. I definitely remember the old scenes being there with Wildfire at the same time, but they started working on Powderkeg in 2004 and the tunnel would have been redone then. IIRC, they used the land above the tunnel for staging some stuff and accidentally damaged the tunnel in the process because it wasn't designed for heavy equipment to be driving around on the surface... or at least that was the rumor at the time. Some stuff like that simply gets old and has to be replaced, and when they do so they often do it cheaply. It's been 13 years now...

Thanks for the TR! I'm planning on making it here in 2018. I wish it wasn't so rough around the edges - especially the famous tower. This seems to be one of those parks that has so much character and history, but it is being slowly ruined by owners who can't or won't take care of it properly.

I haven't heard about a 2001 tunnel renovation. I thought it had a re-purposed Jim Owens tunnel until 2005-ish when they replaced it with the current boring empty concrete tunnel due to structural issues. It's a shame they didn't use more of the old Jim Owen's flume. I think it's kind of funny how much of it is still just out there in the woods with in-tact theming and all. Without the old tunnel, it's a much more "blah" ride than any ride at SDC should be.

It's amazing how much being sick and tired can take the fun out of a roller coaster. I've had it happen to me before too.

I feel like this has been explained before, but why is Knoebels' still allowed to flood all the time? It seems like the state/county/etc hasn't put any effort into flood control here. Knoebel's isn't as small and insignificant as it once was. Anywhere else would have seen some sort of action taken at this point. Probably too much to expect a new flood control lake, but some channel widening or something would eliminate a few of these smaller floods at least.

Ah, sorry, read that wrong at first. That makes sense then. I'm just not getting my hopes up for it to be very long. I'm thinking it will have a bit of a launch or small lift hill into the big drop, a couple inversions, and then some spinny swoops around. What I'm still most curious about is theming and the potential for tunnels/towers/etc.

^This coaster is already well along on construction. The station is nearly complete sans the actual coaster parts, and you can see that there is only going to be one track. It's probably not going to be anywhere near 5,000 feet long. None of SDC's coasters are very long, and "biggest" doesn't mean longest or even tallest anyway. I still think there will be more to it than a complete free spin all the way through. There are already coasters like Laff Track that go straight for the fast sections and then free spin later on, and then there's cobra's curse with its controlled spinning, etc.

I concur. Thanks for letting us know about the new supports! I've been wondering when the first inversion would start to take form! There's so, so much to be revealed about this ride still. That article brings it all back. Sure, it's easy enough to get world's firsts with a crazy spinning coaster, but they are going way beyond that. I can't imagine what they are doing to spend this much. It's not like a typical mack looping coaster, even with spinning cars on a hillside, would cost more than ~$16 million, and they are saying they are spending twice that. From what I'm hearing, they are having some small staffing issues or something again. Stuff like trash detail and the tram operations are starting to slip again. I'm sure the heat is hurting the older employees, and the labor market is super tight for the low-level jobs.

Good thing about this park during those months is that the water park is going to be way more popular than the dry side during the hot part of the day. Should be some easy riding for a few hours at least. Plus they have long hours during summer. I went the first week of June this year and had no problems getting my fill of everything. I'd love to try the water park out as well eventually though.

^I'd love to hear more details. This park is on my radar because I also want to check out Gulf Shores eventually, but I won't exactly make it a priority without decent reviews. Zamperla better get their act in gear when it comes to their coasters. How can a coaster of this size and importance turn out to be rough on opening weekend? I had hoped that they would improve from the Coney Island prototype. There are so many competitors in the market that make similar rides that ride much better. I guess they make the sales by offering a bulk discount. Sad for the park... Here's hoping the park gets off it's feet and expands a bit soon. The South needs more coasters.

I was also there last Monday. It was my first ever visit to Knoebels after over a decade of hearing about it and making it one of my top most wanted coaster destinations. I was the guy walking around with the Zingo shirt. I finally bumped into a couple other enthusiasts who recognized it in the Phoenix station at the end of the day. This place lived up to every expectation I had, which is incredibly rare. I absolutely loved Phoenix, Black Diamond, and the Mansion. Those three rides on an individual basis would be worth traveling anywhere for. Flying Turns, Impulse, and the Twister were very good also. The coal powered kiddie train was the only thing I hadn't heard about that surprised and delighted me. I got my fill of everything by the time the storm clouds moved in about 9ish and shut down Phoenix. I was going to ride Black Diamond a few more times, but it actually got stuck and the people inside were screaming for help - lol I took that as a bad omen and decided to call it a day. I think this place is my second favorite place on earth only after Silver Dollar City. I may even try to come back next year to combine it with Kennywood and Lakemont.

This is the issue with every big wooden coaster that ultimately has to be torn down or converted. Hercules, Mean Streak, Old Texas Giant, etc... they were all amazing when they opened and for at least a few years following, but the parks cheaped out with basic maintenance until it was too late. Such a tremendous waste. I hate to see people begging for wooden coasters to be torn out or converted when all it really needs is some track work. I wish the original RMC idea - the track replacement concept, would have taken off more. What ever happened to that?

From what I can tell, most of the queue will actually be outdoors taking up the old TNT switchback area. The loading area is just one side of one level of this building, with the train bays taking the other side. Looks like there is a maintenance level below and that's it. Most of this giant building has seemingly been built just to get the initial elevation for the first drop... I don't think it would look so massive if it wasn't so tall above everything on a hillside. It's all about that first plunge... can't wait to see how it takes shape. Maybe it will be beyond vertical?

I am thankful to see newspaper headlines follow-up with the appropriate statements. I'm sure many, many people will still let this incident shape their view of rides and this park as "unsafe". The unfortunate thing is that even with this verdict, insurance companies will still view this as an incident and use it to increase their prices on this type of ride. A lot of the time that is what truly seals the fate of rides like these. I'm pretty sure it's a major factor behind the scenes for why the traditional log rides are disappearing. I hope Adventureland Iowa can hang onto theirs for as long as possible - that one is still run the super old-school way where you have to let it run into your legs and sit down real fast because it never stops.

^If you are resorting to building two copies of ride because of capacity, why even bother? The primary feature of this ride type is cost savings. As usual, many are over thinking things and getting ahead of themselves because of the RMC hype and the newness factor. I don't think any park bigger than Kemah will be lining up for this Raptor variant, but it could be a complete game changer for FEC's and micro parks such as Kemah or Galveston Pleasure Pier. The T-Rex variant is the one that is supposed to be the game changer for "real" parks. What I'm watching for now is how other manufacturers will respond with design changes on their own rides. I'm sure everyone already practices optimization, but this could start a whole new level of market forces. I'm interested to see how much steel and labor they are truly saving.

It's possible. The thing is, if they are truly pushing "one of a kind" or a world-record, then simply being the first of biggest of a particular model from a particular manufacturer isn't going to cut it. There's going to be some sort of edge to this ride. Doesn't have to be spinning per se, but they were definitely hinting at something. Could be seats that tilt, could be a car design that swings backwards at certain points, could be free spinning on certain portions and locked on others, etc, etc. The big dipper model could be the "base" though... Seems like Mack kind of has a system they are building, where you could put all kinds of vehicle variants on their track.

If you have two days to spend at the park, you won't really need to have a "plan of attack". You should be able to hit everything up plenty. This is a park with great operations and usually the crowds aren't huge and are very spread out among the many things there are to do. Summer time is definitely busier and the crowds are more focused on rides, so you could see some lines of 15-30 mins, but that's a long wait at this park. My only suggestion in terms of planning is to hit Powderkeg first. That's the one ride that is going to build a line and keep it. Outlaw Run has various surges in it's line throughout the day, but it's so extreme that most people don't tend to ride it over and over again so it doesn't seem to keep a line like Powderkeg does. To answer your question list: 1. If you are referring to the Mine/Mill, then it is excellent. Probably my favorite restaurant in a park, and it is all you can eat. As BBQ goes, it's nothing to be excited about, but it is a full buffet with salad, desert, and several great home-style entrees. 2. It's actually better, IMO 3. Sure, if you have time. It's a decent cave, and it gives a lot of insight into the origin of the park and area. 4. There's a new Qdoba-style restaurant called Percy's that is supposed to be good. There's also a couple skillet stands that you'll see. Not a lot of the homecooking restaurants left these days outside of the Mine/Mill. We lost our Fried Chicken/Beans/Cornbread place... 5. Never dealt with the parent swap, but tell the ride attendants what you're doing and they'll work with you. They are very professional and easy-going, especially if it isn't busy. It's not like dealing with a bunch of kid ride ops. 6. Maybe look into the new Bigfoot tower complex? It's got a drop tower that looks like it was built by Intamin (not sure of the manufacturer yet), a mini-golf course, and some indoor play stuff. There's also the Track family of parks, one of which has the big ferris wheel. There's also Branson Landing, which is a huge outdoor shopping area with a lot of amenities and a neat propelled zipline over the river and even a hot air balloon ride.

So apparently Silver Bullet is stuck again for the third second time in a single season, and fifth time since 2008. News copters are circling as usual. This time it isn't stuck as badly - the people in the very front row might be just barely past the catwalk. Same response as always though... firemen will have to come out. See at this point the fire department/city is going to start getting ticked off. They don't like repeat calls... I think we can start having some serious speculation that this ride will be replaced/rotated. EDIT: Nope, sorry - spoke too soon. Fire department didn't have to do a rescue. They may have been called to the scene, but they were actually able to get the ride started again and it completed the cycle after being stuck for 15 minutes. The initial news reports made it sound like a complete repeat of the last time.

Those $5 off coupons are often about as good as it gets. SDC doesn't run a lot of promotions. Sometimes they have special Thursday deals, but even those are often limited. One way to get a discount is to look around for people willing to give away their Bring-a-friend passes. The catch is that the season pass holder has to come with you and verify that you are their guest (just to get through the turnstiles). It's not unheard of to find someone at the entrance who is looking to give them away. You can also see if any of the passholders on 1branson.com or sdcfans are going on the same day as you so you can meet up with them - I've seen that work out a few times. Of course that deal is again limited because there are only certain dates you can use those passes... Actually now that I think of it, the best deals are found at the local hotels. Usually every hotel in Branson offers discount tickets if you are staying there.

OK, that really does answer a lot of it. So they were in fact having major investment trouble with a main backer having to leave - that is understandable and I can understand why they were being quiet about it. It sounds like everything is back in order once again and they can truly get down to business in two months. I will be watching with much anticipation. Can't believe how much the design seems to have changed again though. I know it's always been conceptual, but the rendering shown emphasizes much more retail for the actual theme park than they initially alluded to. With the outlet mall taking up the entire east side, that's a lot of retail in an age where stores are drying up exponentially. I love city-walk style developments though, so I'm sure it will be a hit. The theme park area is just a placeholder I suppose. Hope they haven't lost sight of all the great theming they talked about earlier. Weren't they also hinting at an RMC like Outlaw Run?

Has anyone been by this lately? Has anything of substance actually been started on yet? I went looking for news today and all I could find was the last big article that said the water park would open this summer... I know I was just there a bit over three months ago and I was impressed by all the clearing and landwork/infrastructure, but lately I've been wondering about it more and more. Infrastructure and re-design issues can certainly cause a hold up, but if it takes this many years you are doing something wrong or it was never really your intention in the first place. Unless they have started construction or are truly about to start, this thing is really starting to smell. I noticed all along that there was an emphasis in selling off real estate parcels, but I thought that was just a piece of the big picture. According to their site, they have sold off a fair number of parcels without any of the amusements being built besides a third party super go-kart track. That should have given them the infusion and backing needed to get, at minimum, the water park off the ground. They've also had several years to get the infrastructure and redesign issues sorted, and we know that the main pieces of the expanded water, sewer, and electrical infrastructure are already in place. So what now? Not many excuses left... Seems like there is a chance they will come out within the next year or so and say "oops, our theme/water park plans fell through, but here's even more real estate for sale!". Somehow I could see there being a scheme behind the scenes where they rip off investors and tax payers who paid for the infrastructure improvements and make a huge windfall profit by appearing to throw in the towel and coming out with a typical neighborhood/shopping center area. Who knows, maybe I'm reading it wrong like a lot of people, but I've tried to be supportive for years now and it's getting harder to keep the faith. When you start trying to peek under the mask, the fact that they threw together an RV park and spent so much time bragging about a go kart track built by someone else really starts to look more suspicious than hopeful, like they have tried to string along just enough news to make it look like they are working towards something. And why clear off all the land way in advance if you aren't even going to start on the other parts for several more years? If you were truly focused on building this complex one piece at a time you'd surely want to focus on the next piece at hand, but clearing everything off would raise the property value if you were really just planning on selling it off at some point. Someone tell me that they are actually working on the water park as we speak and shut me up.

Nice! I thought for sure that they were about to retire that ride after all the trouble with those things lately and general running costs. I'm sure their insurance costs have risen quite a bit just for that ride. Now we just have to wonder what will happen with the Inverter. When was the last time it operated again? That's a decent chunk of space there. Personally, if I could add anything to this park it would be a kiddie coaster. There are several good kids rides here, but they are surprisingly spread out and unfocused. You kind of expect a dedicated kids area somewhere these days.

^It's becoming common for SDC. Scroll back to the posts from 2012 when Outlaw Run was under construction. Every new element was blowing our minds because the park itself wasn't even hinting at what was going on. That thing was nearly complete by August of that year with it opening for the start of the season in March 2013. ^^I guess it depends on your perspective for how large the turns are. The layout of this site is kind of distorted into a bean shape around the amphitheater, so it's hard to get a good look at the whole thing. I wish we had an aerial. The turns look drawn out enough to be good for a wild spinning coaster though...